Changing Point
by Tonyahuqt03
Summary: Zoe and Kaylee friendship story.


Zoë had been bored before. When her grandmother visited her ship when she was a girl and ranted on and on about how little girls shouldn't play with guns and that she should wash behind her ears more. Zoë had even been bored to tears back in basic training when her commanding officered jabbered on about how they were the most useless pile of piss ants he had ever set his eyes on. But, this was a whole new level of boredom. Zoë was bored out of her mind. She contemplated shooting herself in the foot just to have something to do. She went over and over again in her head how she ended up in this situation, here with Kaylee in an old junk yard looking for parts. She watched Kaylee listlessly as she flirted with the proprietor's son. Kaylee was speaking her enginey babble that Zoë never pretended to understand, but the boy seemed to be engrossed in what Kaylee was saying. Maybe if the doctor had paid more attention to Kaylee like this boy did this process wouldn't be taking so long or better yet her husband could be here so they could have a ménage à trois of enginey parts conversation. But, Wash had broken his foot during an outing with Mal and Jayne. Zoë had told Mal on numerous occasions that her husband couldn't hold his liquor, but Mal had to buy him that last shot which sent him over the edge. Wash couldn't see straight let alone walk straight which all lead to his foot being broken and her being here in hell.

"Kaylee we finished yet?" She asked a little perturbed.

Kaylee laughed at the good looking boy's joke. She placed her hand on his hand. He blushed. This day was looking a bit brighter, now that she was away from Idiot. It was a normal morning; some might say a great morning until Simon opened his big fat mouth. He was supposed to go with Kaylee to pick up the parts she needed and other things for the ship, but he has that problem with opening his mouth. So Kaylee decided to take in all the attention from the Dan or Tad she couldn't remember his name that she could get. Dan or Tad said the right things. He thought she was pretty and smart and what did Simon mean…was that a compliment? Kaylee didn't know and didn't care. Dan or Tad wouldn't say something that idiotic. Kaylee in between flirting looked back at Zoë, she looked really bored. She wished Wash was here. Everyone knows that he can't hold his liquor, but Cap'n bought him that last shot. Kaylee sighed and returned her attention to Dan or Tad.

"Your friend looks like see's gonna shoot us." Dan or Tad said.

Kaylee looked back at Zoë. To the untrained eye Zoë did look kind of scary, but Kaylee knew Zoë wouldn't ever hurt anyone, unless the Captain told her to or they tired to hurt any of the crew, or shot at her first. Kaylee shook her head, "Oh, Zoë she always looks like that." She smiled. "So…"

"Kaylee are we finished yet?" Zoë interrupted.

Kaylee smiled politely at Dan or Tad.

"You sure she ain't gonna shoot us. She's been fiddling with that gun for a while now." Dan or Tad voice sounded uneasy.

"I better pay for the parts." Kaylee paid Dan or Tad and thanked him for the conversation.

Kaylee and Zoë left the junkyard then, loaded up the mule.

"So, what did the Doctor do this time?" Zoë asked as she started the mule.

"How'd you know I was angry at Simon?"

Zoë laughed. "You get all pouty and your face turns red."

Kaylee felt her face. "It does."

"Yep, red like an apple."

They headed for the market to buy some much need supplies for the ship. They both got the mule.

"Zoë, does Wash ever say the wrong thing?"

Zoë laughed hard. "All the time."

Kaylee eyed some fruit.

"We don't have enough."

Kaylee sighed and put it down. "I just don't know what to do about Simon. We get along and I know he likes me, but…" Kaylee stopped in front of a candy store window. She licked her lips and pressed her hand against the window.

Zoë was way ahead of Kaylee when she noticed that she wasn't behind her. "Gorramn girl." She whispered to herself.

Zoë joined Kaylee at the candy store window. "Ain't it shiny? Like little fluffy pink clouds."

Zoë made a face. "What is it?"

Kaylee looked at Zoë as if she was standing in the middle of the street naked, juggling, while on a tricycle with a monkey playing an accordion. "Shenme? You ain't never had cotton candy?"

Before Zoë could answer Kaylee had dragged her into the store. Kaylee slapped down a couple of coins on the counter. "Two of your fluffiest, pinkest, cotton candy please."

Zoë looked displeased. "Don't worry, It's my money." Kaylee smiled brightly.

"Kaylee you should save your money for something better than candy."

"This ain't just candy, Zoë. It's cotton candy."

The man handed them two sticks of cotton candy. "Zhe shi wo." He winked at Kaylee.

"Xiexie." Kaylee said.

Zoë thanked the man also then she noticed a small insignia on his sleeve of his shirt the man was a Browncoat.

"Try it." Kaylee protested.

Zoë looked at the shop owner and then at Kaylee she knew she wasn't going to leave this shop with out having a taste of cotton candy. Reluctantly Zoë took a bite. It was like a surge of sugary delight was melting in her mouth. Kaylee and the shop owner both had smiles on their faces.

"No matter how bad the verse gets there are still somethings that are sweet out there." He paused a moment starring at Zoë. "What unit were you in?"

"57th Overlanders."

"33rd Fighting Badgers." The man chuckled a bit. "Ya know what got me through the war?" They didn't wait for an answer, he wasn't expecting one. "Candy."

Kaylee smiled. "Candy?"

"I know it sounds funny, but yeah. Knowing that I had this shop waiting for me... got me through all the horrors I saw." He took a paper bag from under the counter and filled it with different candies. "For your travels."

"We can't." Zoë protested.

He placed the bag in Zoë's hands leaning over and whispered something in her ear. When he was finished talking he kissed her hand.

"Xiexie."

They both left the candy shop to continue their shopping. Kaylee locked arms with Zoë. Zoë arched her eyebrow as she peered down at Kaylee's arm. But, Zoë knew better than to fight Kaylee. Girl might not be any good with a gun, but she had the worst set of puppy dog eyes that made you feel all kinds of bad about yourself. They walked arm and arm for a while until something else caught Kaylee's eye.

"Look they got some new flavors." Kaylee picked through the processed food packets. "I bet with the Shepherd's special touch we could get a few actually good tasting meals out of these."

There was nothing exciting to Zoë about processed food packets, but leave it to Kaylee to make it sound like they were buying beef steaks and potatoes. "Make sure you get plenty of the beef flavored Cap'n loves his beef."

Kaylee dumped several packets into her basket. Zoë also packed in some can goods. They continued walking through the market shopping for goods.

"Zoë what got you through the war?" Kaylee asked. She popped in a piece of candy the man had given them.

Zoë thought a moment. "The Cap'n I suppose."

Kaylee rolled her eyes. She heard it all before how Mal and Zoë got each other through the war. "Really Zoë. I know the Cap'n got you though it and all, but what did you think about when things got its worst."

Zoë stopped and looked Kaylee in the eye. "My yoyo."

"Huh, a yoyo?"

Zoë sighed. "My father had this old wooden yoyo he would pull out every once and a while. He could do all these tricks with it. I could watch him for hours play with that thing. His father had given it to him and his father before that…"

"Kind of an heirloom."

"You could say that. My father carried that gorramn yoyo everywhere he went. Said he even took it in battle with him a couple of times. He said when ever things got too dark, he pulled out his yoyo and he remembered the better times with his father. Before I left to go to basic training he gave it to me. Told me to hold on to it."

"Did it help?"

"Yeah it did." Zoë had a far off look in her eyes like she was remembering her time with her toy. "Sometimes we just sit. No ammo, no orders, nothing but the blackness of night. I would pull it out and remember home, my father, and things didn't seem to be that bad."

"Could you do tricks?"

"I wasn't as good as my father, but I could do a few."

Kaylee laughed. She could just imagined Zoë with a yoyo. "Do you still got it?"

Zoë picked up some crackers. "No, probably in some muddy field somewhere. I think we got enough."

They both checked their baskets they both were pretty full. They checked out and loaded the mule.

Zoë lied to Kaylee she knew it wasn't in some muddy field on some backwater moon. It was buried in a small unmarked grave on a small farm. Zoë's regiment was tired and hungry. They had been walking for what seem like for days when they came upon a small farm house. Luckily for them the occupants were Independent sympathizers so they took what was left of the regiment in. These people didn't have two sticks to rub together, but they gave what they had. Lea was the farmer's 6 year old daughter and they girl had taken a liking to Zoë. She couldn't move a step with out her four foot shadow right behind her. Zoë didn't complain because she liked the girl and taught her all the things her father taught her about yo-yoing. You would have thought Zoë was teaching the girl the secrets of the universe the way Lea's face lit up. The 57th had worn out their welcome and left after week tenure on the farm. They weren't but a few miles away when they heard the air raid on the town. Mal being the man he was headed back to their farm house to try to get the family out, but it was too late. They were all dead. They buried the family in what was left of their backyard. Zoë put her beloved toy in Lea's grave with her. The next day when they arrived at their rendezvous point they got their next orders. They were to deploy to Serenity Valley on Hera. Mal had asked Zoë a while back why she went to war. She smiled and simply told him, "That's what Allyenes do. We're career military." That was the changing point for Zoë, the war was no longer a career choice it was a purpose.

They rode back to Serenity in silence. The men where waiting at the cargo bay door for their return.

"What happened you two get attacked my horrible wildebeest?" Mal said snidely as he unloaded the mule.

Zoë just ignored him and went to find her husband. Kaylee kissed Mal on the cheek.

"Miss us Cap'n?"

"No, what I miss is my engine running…I ain't paying ya to go off and have wild adventures with Zoë."

Kaylee stuck out her tongue grabbed her part and walked towards the engine room.

After going over their next job with Mal Zoe went to check on Wash. She found her husband trying to reach a book on their top shelf.

"Need help?"

Wash fell back on the bed. "My knightness in shining armor come to rescue me from the really high shelf."

Zoë threw the book on the bed. She noticed a small box the bed. "What's that?"

"It's called a book. It has pages and words…"

"No, that." Zoë pointed at the box.

"Oh that. That's for you."

Zoë climbed over Wash to her side of the bed.

"Don't worry it's not from me. It's from Kaylee."

"What is it?"

"I dunno. Kaylee said if I opened it she would break my other foot." Wash rolled over waiting for Zoë to open her gift. "I hope it's something kinky." He said wishfully.

Zoë ignored her husband and opened the gift. Inside was a homemade yoyo. It was painted yellow with a purple unicorn on one side and the other had Zoë's name written on it. Wash made a face.

"There's nothing kinky about a yoyo." He thought a moment. "Is it?"

Zoë ignored Wash and admired her yoyo.

"There's a note." He grabbed the small piece of paper and read it. "I never said thank you for gettin' me through. Love Kaylee." He handed her the note. "What you help her get through? Is it kinky?"

Zoë threw her pillow at Wash.

Kaylee rocked in her hammock picking the paint from her nails. She thought back to her first night on Serenity and how she hadn't been away from home more than a day and she was already homesick. She was curled up in a ball crying in the engine room when Zoë walked in with two cups of tea. She handed one to Kaylee and sat down beside her.

"I remember my first night away from home. I was thirteen my father had sent me to military school. It was an Alleyene family tradition. I felt so out of place. I cried that whole night. The next morning I waved my father and told him I wanted to come home. He told me that home was a state of being. That anywhere can be your home as long you keep the people you love in your heart… a tin can can be home if you want it to be. You just got to make it your own."

Kaylee wiped her face. "What did you do?"

"I painted my footlocker all yellow drew a purple unicorn on the side."

Kaylee laughed. "A unicorn?"

Zoë shrugged. "I had a thing for unicorns. Anyway I got in trouble and had to paint over it with the standard color. But, knowing underneath that ugly green that there was a beautiful purple unicorn made me feel better."

They spent the rest of the night sipping tea and talking. It was Zoë who gave Kaylee the idea to paint Serenity to make her feel like a real home. Kaylee kind of missed those nights of her and Zoë sitting up and talking until the next day. One time Zoë even let Kaylee play with her hair. That night was a changing point for Kaylee this ship no longer felt like a job and these people her co-workers, it felt more like a place she could call home and people she could call family.

But, then Zoë got married, Jayne and Inara came aboard and their talks got pushed to the side. At first Kaylee thought Zoë was kind of scary, but then she got to know her and Zoë became her older, can kick your ass with one hand tied behind her back blindfolded, with a toothpick for a weapon, secret unicorn loving, yo-yoing sister that she loved dearly.

There was a knock on the door that broke Kaylee's trip down memory lane trance.

"If it's Dr. Tam I'm not here."

"It's me."

Zoë walked into the engine room with two cups.

"You never told me what Simon said."

Kaylee rolled her eyes. "Which time?"

* * *

Translations 

Shenme What?

Zhe shi wo Its on the house

xiexie thank you


End file.
